Slidable side jaw wrench having flexible drive adjusting means



y 1955 J c. ELLIS, JR.. ETAL 2,708,336

SLIDABLE SIDE JAW WRENCH HAVING FLEXIBLE DRIVE ADJUSTING MEANS Flled July 6 1953 ENTORS t2 A /5 J2. go /m/ 5774/v50/P0am M M$ fl ATTORNEYS '1 atom: nice Patented May 17, 1955 SLIDABLE SIDE HAW WRENCB HAVENG FLEXIBLE DRVE ADJUSTEJG MEANS John Crawford Ellis, 51"., and .lohn Stanhorough, New Rocheile, N. 1.

2 CEaims.

The present invention relates to adjustable jaw wrenches of the manual type, such as, for example, those commonly termed adjustable end wrenches, characterized by a fixed jaw on the end of a handle opposed by a wormoperated, slidably mounted jaw.

A general object of the present invention is to provide such manual adjustable jaw wrenches which are of simple and sturdy construction, the parts being readily producible on an economical mass production basis and easily assembled; and which permit accurate adjustment of the slidably mounted jaw relative to the fixed jaw from a remote point, such as at the end of the handle, effectively to minimize or eliminate difliculties which may otherwise be attendant upon adjustment of the jaws relative to each other when in relatively inaccesible or limited clearance spaces.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide in such a wrench, worm means for slidable adjustment of the movable jaw means effectively operated from a remote point, such as at the far end of the handle, by manual means, such as a knurled knob or the like, and an intermediate flexible shaft.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such a manual wrench in the form of an end wrench wherein the manual handle extends at an oblique angle to the faces of the opposed jaws with the handle housing 49 in a curved way or passage a flexible driving cable for operating eifectively a movable jaw-adjusting worm by a manual knob on the end of the handle, with the knob axis disposed at an oblique angle to the worm axis, and thereby permitting simple adjustment of the space between the jaws after they have been inserted into the location of a bolt head, nut, or the like, which may be relatively inaccessible to ones hand.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a structural embodiment of the device which may be readily constructed and which permits efiicient use and operation thereof.

Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the features of construction, combination of elements, and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accon panying drawing, in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view, with parts broken away and in section, of an embodiment of the present invention in the form of an adjustable end wrench;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view, with parts broken away, of the right hand end of the wrench head as viewed in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an edge elevational view, with parts broken away and in section, of the wrench shown in Fig. l as viewed from the right side thereof;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view, similar to Fig. 2, of the wrench head as viewed from the left side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a closing plate used to close a channel or groove in the top face of the wrench handle and head as viewed in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 66 of Fig. l, and with parts broken away and others shown in elevation; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross-section of the handle of the wrench shown in Figs. 1 and 3 but with the slotclosing plate or strip initially positioned opposite to but spaced from the slot to permit ready closure of the latter by the strip when pressed thereinto.

Referring to the drawing, in which like numerals identify similar parts throughout, it will be seen that the embodiment of the present invention shown therein by way of example comprises an adjustable jaw wrench of the adjustable end wrench type, having a head portion 11; and a handle portion 11. The head portion 10 includes a fixed jaw 12 having a work-engaging face 13 and a slide guide channel 14, preferably arranged substantially normal to the jaw face 13. The guide channel 1 -5- extends transversely of the head 10 in the form of a slot extending through the root of the fixed jaw 12 and as an open channel to the opposite side of the head, to define a movable jaw path of traverse. The guide channel 14- is shown to be T-shaped in cross section and the open portion thereof is flanked by a pair of laterallyspaced flat guide surfaces 15, 15. The wrench head 10 also has in one face thereof a recess 16, one side of which intercepts the guide channel 14. It is to be understood that in accordance with common practice in this art, the guide channel 14 may be of any other suitable crosssectional shape, such as of the type wherein its enlarged portion is arcuate or has curved, opposed sides slidably to receive a rounded rack rather than a rectangular rack; and that the recess 16 may extend completely through the head from face to face in the form of a slot.

Movable jaw 17 is provided with a work-engaging face 18, opposed to the work-engaging face 13 of fixed jaw 12, and its base portion has a shank in the form of a transversely-extending, toothed rack 19, so shaped in crosssection as to be received slidably in the guide channel 14, and thus, as will be seen from Figs. 2, 3 and 4, is also T-shaped in section. The base portion of the movable jaw 17 is provided with a pair of laterally-spaced, transversely-extending fiat bottom faces 2% 2t) flanking the shank 19 and adapted to slide or ride upon the guide surfaces 15, 15 when the toothed rack 19 is slid along in channel 14.

Teeth 21 of rack 19 extend into the recess 16, there to be engaged by and meshed with helical thread 22 of a jaw-adjusting worm 23. The worm 23 is rotatably mounted in recess 16 at one end by means of a stud shaft 24, constituting the nose of a screw member 25 threadably received in an internally threaded hole 26 extending from one edge of the wrench head to the recess 16, as will be seen from Figs. 1 and 4. The stud shaft 24, of course, is pivotally received in a socket in one end of the worm 23. The opposite end of worm 23 may be provided with another socket into which is fixed an end 27 of a flexible drive shaft or driving cable 28, which is somewhat snugly received in the bottom of a curved arcuate side channel or groove 29, while being rotatable therein, as will be best understood from Fig. 7.

As will be seen in Fig. 1, the manually-engageable handle 11 extends at an oblique angle to the transverse path of traverse of the movable jaw 17, as defined by guide surfaces 15, 15 and the guide channel 14. Accordingly, since an extension of the flexible cable 23 is to serve as the means for rotating the jaw-adjusting worm 23 from a remote point, such as the far end 30 of the handle 11, it is housed therein, being bent or curved as shown in Fig. l to extend along the handle after traversing a portion of the head 16 and, of course, the cable-receiving side groove 29 is similarly curved at the juncture between the handle and the head. The side groove 29 extends to a point 31 where it communicates with a straight bore 32 leading to a coaxially arranged counterbored socket 33 in the far end of wrench handle 11 with the side groove and bore together forming the cable way of which the bore forms the outer end portion. The far end 30 of the wrench handle 11 is preferably squared off normal to the axis of the socket 33, and the latter rotatably receives cylindrical shank 34 of a manual knob 35, preferably of the knurled type. A socket 36 extends through the cylindrical shank 34 of the manual knob 35 and up into head 37 of the latter, as will be seen from Fig. 1, so as to receive therein the other end 38 of flexible driving cable 28 and into which the latter is fixedly anchored by any suitable means, such as by a set screw 39. Thus, cable 23 is rotatable by means of the manual knob 35, in ,turn to rotate the jaw-sliding worm 23, and extends from the former to the latter through a way provided by groove 29 and bore 32.

In order to avoid undesirable accumulation of grease and dirt in'the channel or groove 29, it is preferably closed in any suitable manner, such as by a closing plate or strip 40. As will be seen from Fig. 7, the mouth of the channel or groove 29 is preferably enlarged laterally or cut back to provide flanking grooves 41, 41 andthe closing strip 40 preferably is transversely bowed so that when .it is flattened out, its width may be increased. As indicated in Fig. 7, the opposite edges of bowed closing strip 49 are receivable in the grooves 41, 41 flanking the channel 29, but when the bowed strip thereafter is flattened out, it becomes tightly wedged in the flanking grooves 'with its outer face 42 preferably flattened to mergence with the adjacent portions of the face of the wrench handle 11, as will be'understood from Fig. 3. The closing plate or strip 40 may thus be fixedly mounted in .the enlarged mouth of the groove 29 by a pressing operation, which may be performed on a punch press, but it may, if desired, be secured in other ways, such as by removable screws. Further, the groove 29 may, if desired, extend from the recess 16 to the manual knob socket 33 and be closed by a screw-anchored face plate substantially covering the top face of the wrench handle 11, as viewed in Fig. l, as well as a portion of the wrench head including, if desired, the recess 16.

It will be understood that the wrench head 10 and handle 11 may be constructed as an integral member by a simple drop forging procedure, with the removable jaw 17 and its integral toothed rack 19 being separately made by another drop forging procedure. if the cable way .is to be provided by bore 32 and a foreshortened channel or, groove 29, the bore may, of course, be drilled and socket 33 counterbored after the handle has been drop forged.

It will thus be seen that the slidable jaw 17 may be traversed along the head faces 15, so that its workengaging face 18 either approaches or retreats from the work-engaging face 13 of the fixed jaw 12 to adjust the space therebetween. Rotation of the worm 23 moves the jaw 17 in that manner by means of the toothed rack 19 fixed thereto and with its teeth 21 meshed with the worm thread 22. Preferably, the worm thread 22 is of the left hand type so that clockwise rotation of the worm, as viewed from the end of the latter which is fixed to cable end 27, will cause the jaw faces 18 and 13 to approach each other, conveniently to satisfy prevalent operational habits of manipulating screw threaded members. Accordingly, when the knurled manual knob 'is rotated clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 1, it rotates the flexible driving cable or drive shaft 23 in the same direction so as to give clockwise rotation to the worm 23,

thereby causing the slidable jaw 17 to approach the fixed 4 jaw 12. Consequently, the space between the jaws of the adjustable end wrench of the present invention is readily adjusted from the remote far end of the wrench handle by means of the manual knob 35. This is particularly advantageous when the wrench is employed to manipulate bolt heads, nuts, and the like, in relatively inaccessible places and spaces of limited dimensions, frequently encountered in machines and engines.

In use of an embodiment of the adjustable jaw wrench of the present invention, it is a simple matter for the machinist roughly to adjust the space between the jaws sufficiently readily to span the relatively inaccessible machine element, such as a bolt head or nut, to be manipulated thereby, insert the wrench head in the confined space so that the jaws span the machine element, and then to move the jaws toward each other for firm engagement of opposite sides of the machine element by rotation of the manual knob at the remote far end of the wrench handle where it is readily accessible.

it will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efiiciently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Having described our invention, what we claim' as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A slidable side jaw wrench having flexible drive adjusting means comprising, in combination, a head having a fixed jaw extending from the free end thereof and a transverse guide channel arranged substantially normal to said jaw defining a transverse path of movable jaw traverse, a movable jaw slidably supported by said head and having a shank rack slidably received in said guide channel, said head having a worm-housing recess communicating with said channel, a jaw-advancing worm rotatably mounted and housed in said recess and meshed with said rack, an elongated manual handle fixed to said head and extending therefrom at an oblique angle to said path of traverse and having a far end remote from said head, said head and handle being provided with a cable way extending from said worm-housing recess to said far handle end and curved at the juncture of the head and handle, a manual knob rotatably supported by said far handle end, a flexible driving cable extending along the curved way and fixed at opposite ends to said worm and said knob whereby the latter may rotate the former to adjust said movable jaw, at least the portion of said way at the juncture of said handle and head being in the form of an initially open side groove, and a cover plate mounted on one side of said handle closing said side groove.

2. The adjustable end wrench as defined in claim 1 characterized by the outer end portion of said way being provided by a bore extending from said far handle end toward said head and the remaining portion of said way being provided by the curved side groove extending from said here to said worm-housing recess with said side groove being closed by a curved side cover platefixedly mounted therein.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

